Want to make it as a writer?
Stop trying to be a people pleaser.
Man I wish I could write like that, get on that juicy clap train and go choo choo!
All the way up to half a million followers and never have to worry about anything else; just post anything that comes to mind knowing full well it will get a few sympathy claps anyways.
All it takes is like 50 of them to clap for it, the rest will do it without even reading the article.
It’s how the system works.
One person breaks the traffic light, fuck it — let’s all do it.
Don’t follow the pattern, it’s no good — you’re not a writer, you’re a people pleaser.
Trouble is, how long are you going to please people before you dry out?
Realise you could’ve just waited, endured, worked on the story for a little longer, delayed the urge to publish, wouldn’t that have been more rewarding?
Probably not, right? We want instant results.
It’s largely a fault of our own, we fall victim to this behemoth of a machine that feeds of on our insecurities.
Social media, where fakery is constantly rewarded.
We stopped being writers, we’re not in it for the passion anymore.
No, we want those hits.
Remember a time when people actually had to write?
For days, for months, even years.
Just how futile it felt to constantly sit through publishers and get rejected, how those books survived well beyond our imagination and went on to inspire a generation beyond.
Of how books like 1984 and A Brave New World; pretty much predicted the future.
Of how Philip K. Dick inspired Bladerunner; yet he never saw “success” whilst he was alive, but continued to write anyways.
Go back to the basics, look around — this is a wonderful time to be alive.
We have all the tools available to us, yet we still find excuses to complain.
Don’t worry about the noise, the claps, the views, the algorithms…
Focus on your work.
Focus on what inspires you.
Find that drive and keep fuelling it.
Pump out pieces till you gas out.
It’s a lot easier to complain, friends.
It’s a lot more difficult to just keep grinding.
It pays off, I believe it will.
Give yourself as shot.
Good luck on your pursuit.
